March 31, 2015

The University of South Carolina football team returned to the new practice fields on Tuesday afternoon on a warm, but breezy spring day in Columbia. It was practice No. 9 of the allotted 15 spring practices for the Gamecocks.

Head coach Steve Spurrier noted that he will be hosting a reunion of all the players that have played for the Gamecocks over the last 10 years at the spring game next weekend. “It will be fun seeing the ’05 group all the way through the ’14 (class). Over 100 guys have already signed up to come,” said Coach Spurrier. A reception will be held at Seawell’s on Friday, April 10, then the players will be recognized at the Garnet & Black Spring Game on Saturday, April 11. Coach Spurrier also gave a shout out to Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks’ women’s basketball team for reaching the Final Four.

“All three quarterbacks threw pretty well,” said Coach Spurrier of today’s practice. “They threw some good ones today in the windy conditions. All three of them are rotating in right now. They’re all doing pretty well.”

After viewing the tape of Saturday’s scrimmage, co-defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward gave his assessment of the defense. “Not bad,” said Ward. “I think we did some good things and we’ve got a lot of things we need to work on. I think the biggest thing that we talked about as a defensive staff is we’ve got to make sure the players understand that each person has a responsibility in the system for the system to work. You have to do that. We’ve got to get everybody doing the right thing. It’s small stuff, like leaving your gap too soon or poor alignment. It’s little things, but little things get you beat.

“We’ve made some progress,” continued Ward in assesses the defense through the first nine practices. “But we’ve got a long way to go. We’re not close to where we need to be to be successful in this conference. I think the guys have grasped for the most part everything we’re doing in this system. Now we’re just trying to fine-tune it. For the most part, the entire package is in.”

The Gamecocks are thin at defensive end right now, as both Cedrick Cooper (high ankle sprain) and Gerald Dixon (lower leg contusion) have been sidelined with injuries. “We hope to get Dixon back before this week is out and I don’t know if Coop will be ready before spring ball is over.”

The Gamecocks are using more of a 4-3 look in practice. “If we had to play today, the three linebackers would be Skai (Moore), Bryson (Allen-Williams) and (Jonathan) Walton,” said Ward.

The Gamecocks are scheduled to practice three more times this week, returning the practice fields on Thursday and Friday before venturing into Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday morning for their second official scrimmage of the spring. All three practices are closed to the public.